Donald Glover: The Triple Threat

Donald Glover was voted "Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons" in his high school yearbook – which was ironic, considering his mom wouldn't let him watch the show. "But she let me watch the Muppets, which fucked up my brain more," he says. "Like, 'Don't watch this show written by Harvard graduates. Watch this thing made by hippies on drugs!' "

Maybe he owes Mom a thank-you. Glover's humor is all Muppet-ish sweetness mixed with Simpsons raunch. Take Community, the sitcom in which he stars as Troy, a dimwitted jock-turned-nerd – a role that's helped make Glover, at 27, one of the most sought-after multithreats in Hollywood. Glover grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where he used to entertain his elementary school with a Lamb Chop puppet. At NYU, he and some friends formed a comedy troupe whose online sketches got him onto Tina Fey's radar. She hired him to write for 30 Rock at the age of 21 – but what Glover really wanted was to perform. Within months he'd landed Community.

Soon you'll be seeing a lot more of him: He just shot The To-Do List, about a girl (Parks and Recreation's Aubrey Plaza) who sets out to cross some sex stuff off her list before she starts college. (Glover: "I'm the guy that eats her out.") He also has a Comedy Central stand-up special in November, and his hip-hop project Childish Gambino has a new album dropping the same month.

Later this fall he'll come full circle, with his role in The Muppets, where he got to act opposite one K.T. Frog. Did they bond on set? "Mostly I just asked him about, like, what he ate for breakfast," he says. "If you get to a point where you're like, 'So, Kermit, I was fucking my wife in the ass last night . . .,' you probably need to cut back on the Kermit time."